Owen Gun Goes to Sea? Part 5
This is another draft chapter from the Owen Gun Book, the finished chapters will be printed in the book. These electronic chapters are from a different part of the book and will keep changing (growing I hope) with the contributions and discovery of further information. If you have any information to contribute or criticisms please email owenguns@spiderweb.com.au as none of these articles are finalised. Ron Owen
Why Did the Submarine Captain want to Sink an Empty Ship?
The later official Japanese War history published in 1979 admits ‘The Centaur had been hit by a torpedo fired from Submarine 1-177 commanded by Lieutenant Commander Nakagawa. The sinking seems to have been Nakagawa’s decision as commander and not the result of any official policy. Later in the Indian Ocean Nakagawa fired on the survivors from a British merchantman. For this, and other incidents, he was tried as a B Class war criminal and spent four years in prison. At the War Crime trials the sinking of the Centaur was not raised in evidence against him.
Submarine Captain Nakagwa,he does not look like a happy chappy. Did he know that the Centaur was not an empty Hospital Ship?
Why? Was the Centaur Sinking not raised at his trial?
“At his trial the sinking of the Centaur was not raised.” This is unbelievable, even if the Australian Government did not have enough evidence to get a conviction one would think that as he had been captured and on trial under oath and the prosecution fully aware of the complete movements of Lieutenant Nakagawa and the Submarine 1-177 that they would try to get collaborative evidence of his Criminality and use the sinking of the Centaur against him. Why have an official ‘War Crimes’ inquiry in Melbourne in 1944 with a finding that the sinking was in breach of the Hague Conventions then not mention this sinking of a Hospital Ship when he is brought to trial. Fellow officers praised Nakagawa as a professional sailor who would never knowingly have attacked a protected hospital ship. Nakagawa himself has never commented on the event. It is worth mentioning that eight months previously Japanese surface ships had trained their searchlights on the hospital ship Manunda at Milne Bay. The Manunda was similarly marked and illuminated to the Centaur and she was not fired on.
What was the difference between the Manunda and the Centaur both were marked in the same way as the Centaur. Was the Centaur a recognised target?
Some Parts of the Ship was Found Only to Be Lost Again! Twice?
Sergeant Chris Bond (later WOII with BCOF and in Korea) was a hygeine inspector with the Australian Army Hygeine Service and was based on Moreton Island. His major role was in malaria prevention by finding breeding grounds of the Anopheles mosquito.
Jim Bond, son of Sergeant Chris Bond. Relates the story and supplies a photograph.
A capable horseman with experience pre-war in the 5th Light Horse, he was issued with a horse and from his base at Cowan. He covered all the area of Moreton Island on a week long patrol.
He related to his family that some days after the “Centaur” was sunk part of the name-board of the “Centaur” was washed up on the shore of Moreton Island. He recovered it and handed it in to the unit office at Cowan.
Sgt Chris Bond with the Ships name Board. Found on the Beach.
Some weeks later he went to the carpenters shop to get timber to repair a sullage pit and the name-board was on the woodheap. He was told that he could use it.
My father wrapped the name-board in hessian and on his next leave pass to the mainland, brought the name-board to our home in Brisbane. Here it was hidden away.
After the war the Australian Red Cross held a “Centaur” Fair at the Kelvin Grove Army barracks and here my father handed over the name-board for proper recognition.
His son Jim Bond asks. ‘Where it is now I do not know but with May 14 on our doorstep it would be fitting that the name-board could feature in remembrance services on that day.’
The Army of course has lost it again, one would wonder why they want to lose absolutely everything to do with the Centaur? Accept the publicity campaign of its sinking.
However it proves conclusively that wreckage from the Centaur was washed up on Queenslands beaches which supports further information yet to be given.
What’s the Australian Hospital Ship Centaur got to do with the Owen Gun, or the Owen Gun project? I can hear the readers asking.
During the research for this book which is somewhat a team effort, we have been very busy taking photographs of Owen Guns of all models, shapes and sizes in collections and museums Australia wide. I happened to take a several hundred photographs of an Owen Gun Mk1. It had an all over corrosive patina where heavy corrosion had removed the original external surface. Inside all surfaces were perfect.
Almost unfired, deep, unworn rifling, though a little dirt on the oil.
The barrel was perfect, the trigger pack still showed the remains of the packing grease. The bolt was almost brand new showing some of the original flame browned finish. The magazine externally was corroded and in two small places it was nearly all the way through the metal. Inside the magazine was as clean as a whistle and the magazine spring had not been touched by the rust.
The Owen gun with the Salt Water Finnish.
As I began to photograph it, my mind remembered that there were rumours of Owen Guns being dumped at sea by the Australian Stores in the early 1970s and there were stories that Owen Guns had been found in Trawler nets off the coast from Bribie Island, Queensland. Some years ago I was shown some sub sections of Owen Guns, very corroded, totally inert that the fishermen said they had found in there trawler nets off the coast of Redcliffe.
I had also read stories of Owen Guns being dumped in the Hume Weir as the Army was disposing them from the strategic reserve in the early 1970s. This raised a few questions as they would have been dumping used or old guns, not new guns, this bothered me as the one corroded one I photographed was not a firearm that had been in service from the early 1940s until the late 1960s, that’s twenty years of military hard work. Why would they throw this one overboard? It must have been brand new when it hit the water?
What stories could it tell if it could speak, Where did it go between Port Kembla and Bribie Island?
I mentioned this particular Owen Gun to a friend of mine, during a telephone conversation to Mr Ian Skennerton, the author of ‘100 years of Australian Service Machine Guns’, ‘The Lee Enfield’ and many more books on Military firearms. Ian asked if this one had the additional safety catch fitted to the rear of the receiver? This modification was carried out during the FTR (Factory Thorough Repair) programme in the late 1940s to all Owen Guns in service at that time. So we both concluded that this one had gone into the ‘briny’ prior to the modification and many years before they were being taken out of service and disposed in the 1970s and 80s. He then asked if it had the Butt with it and I answered in the negative. He then said, “Well it must be one of the Owen Guns that came off the ‘Centaur’. I said, “well that would explain the regular stories of trawlers pulling Owen Guns and parts of Owen Guns out their fishing nets off the shores at Redcliffe as the Centaur was sunk in that area in 1943.”
Treasure on the Beach
He then told me about his father in law Ron Dawson who lived in Caloundra, who had found cases of Owen Guns that had been washed up on Bribie Island beaches a few days after the ‘Centaur’ was sunk. Ron Dawson knowing that Ian was a Military Firearm enthusiast/writer had related this to him in the late 1980s when Ian was researching his book that was printed in 1989 the ‘100 years of Australian Service Machine Guns. I then queried (I’m known for always being a doubting Thomas) but if they were in cases they would have been in the hold and would still be there. “No” said Ian, “The Centaur was blown open as it was a huge torpedo and the Hospital Ship was only just over 300 ft long, it broke in half and sunk straight away.” I replied with, “Well the wooden cases would be sealed and hold air. They would float like a boat even if they did not float above the surface they would float below the surface and could quite possibly be washed up on the coast.” If the wooden cases had some salt water in them that would explain why this exhibit is only corroded on the outer surface when they are new and packed at the factory. They are solidly packed with thick grease which needs an armoury de-greasing process before they are issued. I have Owen Gun magazines which are solidly packed in stiff brown grease. Maybe as grease floats on water, the grease in the cases would provide more displacement and this would assist the flotation of the cases. (That might be clutching at straws)
Another view of the nautical Owen Gun
So this inspired me to investigate the sinking of the AHS Centaur and ask the question, why would a Captain of a Japanese Submarine who only had 8 Torpedoes when he left Japan five thousand miles away, waste one of them on what he would consider an empty hospital ship that was lit up like a Christmas Tree. Why would he not wait for a large ship heavily ladened with supplies or soldiers on route to fight his countrymen in New Guinea? The simple answer to that is that any experienced Submariner never mind a ‘Commodore’ would be able to look through the periscope at 1500 metres and immediately know by its displacement and how high it is from the water mark (Plimsoll line) if it was loaded or not. As soon as he established that it was supposed to be an empty Hospital Ship travelling to New Guinea to pick up a cargo of sick and wounded Australian soldiers. Yet in reality he was looking at a ship that was fully loaded and low in the water with cargo. He knew then he could morally and legally sink it. He would consider it was his duty to sink it. The Ship was lit up like a Christmas tree and with a full moon that night he could not have been mistaken about the Centaurs Hospital ship condition, either way he would have known, was it a fully loaded hospital ship with guns and men or was it unloaded empty hospital ship. If it was an empty ship he would not have wasted a torpedo, he would have waited for the next one coming and there was no shortage.
The optics in the periscope would have been the best that the world could produce at that time, on a moon-lit night with the ship itself flood lit, it cold not have been a mistake.
Japanese ships did not have any radar, so they compensated the best way they could by paying more attention to the optical ability. The Japanese optical industry improved and was superior to all others due to this lack of radar, and the Japanese optical industry in binoculars, telescopic rifle scopes, and cameras succeeded against all competitors after World War Two aiding in its post war recovery due to the necessity of producing advanced optics.
After some preliminary research I found my way back to Ian Skennerton’s, 100 years of Australian Service Machine Guns. I say found my way back to it as I have had a copy for ten years or more and would have read it the first time in the early 1990s. On my second read as there was now much more purpose to it, I found something I had at first overlooked. At the bottom paragraph of page 67, Ian states,
“Owen’s generally replaced the Thompson’s in New Guinea from December 1942 and quantities of Austen’s were also shipped. Reports of disfavour with the Austen were forthcoming from combat areas soon after and a certain amount of manipulation by the Army management. As high as the top command and General Blamey, in favour of the Austen becomes apparent on researching Secret Army telexes and communications. Another interesting note in these secret orders is that the (on page 69) “Centaur” was carrying Owen Guns and 9mm ammunition from the east coast ports to New Guinea in late 1942. It was commissioned as a hospital ship early in 1943 and then sunk by a Japanese submarine off Cape Moreton on the 14th of May the same year. The controversy on whether she was running guns under the cover of Red Cross status is still a topic of discussion.”
Was there two Ships called the “Centaur“
Both operating from the eastern ports of Australia in 1943.
After reading this I realised that Ian must have forgotten more of this story during the last twenty years since he researched and wrote this so I phoned him again and reminded him of the paragraph and asked him what was in these secret orders that let him know that the “Centaur” was carrying Owen Guns. That must have done the memory trick as immediately he said, “Oh the telex”. “What telex .” “You didn’t mention a telex the other day.” “I must have forgot.” Ian said. “I found it when I was doing that research, I have a copy of it still, I will find it.” “No problem”, I said “but what did it say?” Oh, it said, ‘SS Centaur to proceed to Port Kembla to load Owen Guns 7th May 1943, sail same day to Sydney to load 9mm Ammunition. Depart Sydney 12th May 1943 dated April 1943″. I said, “well that’s it” “that clinches it”. Then Ian pointed out that the Teleprinter had ‘SS Centaur’ and not “AHS Centaur”, ‘but there is hardly likely that there are two with the same name and the prefix to the name would have only changed a month before the Telex was sent’. ‘Yes’ It would have been embarrassing for the writer to put AHS standing for Australian Hospital Ship and then order it to be loaded with Owen Guns and ammo. Maybe he wanted to leave himself a way out, or it would draw a lot less attention with SS, (Steam Ship) ‘Centaur’, instead of Hospital Ship. Ian promised to find the telex when he gets back from his next overseas trip. (That will then be added to this article. )
Many other besides me have wondered if the Port Kembla ” Iron Stone” is a code name for Owen Guns”.
Why Were They So Quick to Close The Owen Gun Project?
Going back to April 1943, the Australian High Command could have found themselves in the middle of another political minefield. In April the Prime Minister, Mr. John Curtin, ” expressed great concern and said that the matter would be decided by the War Cabinet at a meeting in the next few days. Then on the facts, Cabinet reversed the decision and acknowledged the Owen Gun as the standard submachine gun for the Australian Forces. Then Two further orders, each for five thousand (5,000) guns, were later placed with Lysaght’s but that was in April, but by May they had to spend money in a huge war propaganda campaign to paint the Japanese as demons for sinking the ‘Centaur’. That would all have been for nothing as their bodies and their careers would have been hung out to dry if it had come out that the Centaur was loaded with Owen Guns and 9 mm ammunition. Was that the reason that Lysaght’s received no more orders after May 1943. Was the Centaur the reason the Owen Gun project was cancelled? Was that the reason why thousands of Australian troops had to make do with inferior products or none at all.
All that was in front of the Australian High Command. They did not know anything about an atomic bomb, no one did. The Australian’s were still fighting the Japs in New Guinea in 1943. In 1943 there was fear about yesterday, fear about today and fear about tomorrow. Nothing was certain and everyone knew the war had a long way to run, before our lads got to Tokyo. The Americans had ordered 60,000 Owen Guns just for its Pacific forces. The Canadians had tested the Owen Gun and found it the best in all tested. The British that were still making 20,000 Sten Guns per week in one factory at Fazakerley in Lancashire and carried on making them until September 1945 making over two million in total. The British had tested all types and the Owen Gun had come out the best in all classes of tests.
Why did they continue to make an inferior product in vast quantities when by 1943 they had established that the Owen Gun was the best? Who put them off from accepting the Owen Gun?
Was it that the John Lysaght factory, which was only a hundred yards from the dock, that had the ability of loading its Owen Guns directly onto the ships that took them to the battlefield had to be packed up, and closed to prevent any uncontrolled investigation into the Centaur sinking?
To stop ordering the most sort after sub machine gun of World War Two in May 1943 when even in January 1945 the three Allied Powers Russia, USA and Great Britain were convinced that the war would not end until 1946 or 1947 and that they would have to accept a million Allied Casualties in the invasion of the Japan main islands and that invasion would take at least a year.
Yet the Australian High Command stopped ordering in May 1943 and had the factory closed up by September 1944?
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